The story of the Akihabara stationmaster is bringing tears to the eyes of commuters around the country.

Behind Japan’s efficient rail system is a whole league of employees working together to bring the highest standard of service to commuters around the country. Often taken for granted, the working life of a railway worker largely goes unseen, but now there’s a new video from Tokyo Metro and Boss coffee that lets us see what the last day at work can be like for a Japanese train employee.

Grab the tissues and prepare to be touched by the short video below:

The star of the clip is Akihabara stationmaster Mr. Ishiyama, a Tokyo Metro employee who’s been working in the Japanese rail industry for forty years. This March, at the end of the Japanese working year, it was time for Ishiyama to say goodbye to his colleagues on his last day at work, before retiring with thousands of others across Japan.

After bidding farewell to the last train on the platform, Ishiyama received a fond farewell of his own, as the main lights at the station were turned off and the signboards suddenly lit up with personalised messages of thanks and good wishes from his colleagues.

The surprise farewell brought tears to the stationmaster’s eyes as he read their heartfelt messages and waved at their moving images. Then, the lights came back on as his team came out to greet him personally, sending him off with a round of applause, some deep bows and a big bouquet of flowers.

According to the official campaign website for “The Last Train” video, Ishiyama had no idea about the digital signage farewell messages, which were covertly arranged by staff and videographers before his last day. With so many thousands of hard workers like these facing a brand new chapter in their lives at this time of year, we hope other employees get to enjoy a send-off just as touching and special as this stationmaster did on his last day!

Related: Tokyo Metro
Featured image: YouTube/東京メトロ公式チャンネル
[ Read in Japanese ]